Cars an Easy Target When Cities Slash Budgets

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Cars an Easy Target When Cities Slash Budgets

If you're looking for a 2005 Chevy Classic with an AM/FM radio, crank windows and a lot of scuffs on the bumper, this may be your lucky month. As cities across the country face budget shortfalls, mayors are looking for low hanging fruit they can pluck from the budget. In New York and New Orleans, staff cars are ripe and ready for picking.

In New York, the Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg has ordered the sale of 700 city owned cars which might save $20 million over the next two years. New Orleans Inspector General Robert Cerasoli not only found that cutting 273 cars from the city budget would save $1 million, but also had a flashback to the 2008 presidential campaigh when he discovered the city didn't exactly remember how many cars it owned. Predictably, the users of those cars are up in arms while most taxpayers are glad to see the outdated perk go the way of the Dictaphone and three martini lunch.

While it's hard to feel sympathy for building inspectors and parks department employees who have what the city referred to as a "cherished perk," we hope that car sharing services remain as we'd rather see city employees doing their job efficiently instead of waiting for a cross-town bus.

According to the mayor's memo (PDF) obtained by the Times, the New York plan involves "an immediate, citywide active fleet reduction as well as a longer-term strategy for more efficient fleet operations and maintenance." In addition to the across-the-board 10 percent reduction in the city's fleet, agencies will also have to reduce fleet expenses such as maintenance and fuel. Lest anyone think this is just a move to eliminate a major budget buster, Bloomberg assured agency heads that the initiative will also contribute to an overall goal of reducing the city government's carbon emissions 30 percent in the next 18 years.

That kind of high-mindedness pales in comparison to New Orleans, where officials are just trying to find out how many cars the Crescent City owns. Inspector General Cerasoli told WWL-TV he wasn't intending to write a "gotcha" report, but it's hard not to when the results of your investigation are fodder for B-list talk radio hosts. Among his findings? New Orleans has 213 more take-home cars than a city ordinance allows, and some employees have been reimbursed for filling an 18 gallon tank with 36 gallons of gasoline.